Public house of c.1800, rebuilt c.1855, closed 2004

Former Lord Rodney's Head public house, 285 Whitechapel RoadContributed by Survey of London on Nov. 14, 2017

By 1806 there was a pub at this address known as the Rodney’s Head. Admiral
Lord Rodney had gained fame in 1782 and died in 1792. There were improvements
to the rear in the 1820s. In 1853 Robert Elliott, the proprietor, added a back
concert room that became a Music Hall called the (New) Prince’s Hall of
Varieties. This comprised fourteen rows of seats either side of a gangway, for
160, with a balcony for 80 more, facing a small stage at the north end.
Documentation for the rebuilding of the front has not been traced, but the
façade has the appearance of coinciding with other works of the 1850s. It
quaintly combines medievalising hoodmoulds, a Venetian Gothic glazing pattern
and more classical Italianate elements. There was also a ‘Club Room’, probably
on the first floor, altered in 1855. In 1874 a new sixty-year lease was
granted, but faced with MBW demands for improved egress, the Music Hall closed
in 1885, its space given over to a recast public bar until 1900 when there was
demolition to the rear for extension of the railway line. This remained a
popular pub, listed among London’s best in 1989, until it was converted to be
the Funky Munky in 2000. Closure followed in 2004 since when there has been
shop use.1